Canvas
by PoisonBones
Summary: Azula couldn't help but compare the two lovers as artwork of the sorts. People were- in a way- just like pieces of canvas being confronted by artists, who held their emotions like paint in a palette. She hated it. - Azula watches at her brother and her closest friend, taking them apart bit by bit, and reflecting on their emotions. Mai/Zuko R&R you know the drill.


She watches them.

She watches them with an irritated scowl painted on her face. They were disgusting, she decided, after a moment's hesitation. Azula had never learned the simplicities of being in a relationship, but she had come to the conclusion that it was a scenario best left be. The small talk and expectant cuddling alone would have been enough to make her either climb a wall or set every flammable substance within a miles radius ablaze.

Watching Mai and Zuko doing such things was enough to physically sicken her.

They were in a small conference room at the back of the palace. Lo and Li were sitting side by side, chatting about tea (like uncle, it must be an old people thing), Ty Lee was frowning at a book, and then them. They were not sitting around the small table, instead they stood back. Zuko had leaned up against the wall, Mai against a tall marble pillar, and they were talking. _Talking, _and Azula hated it. She hated how Zuko would casually shift his weight, cross and uncross his ankles, and most of all she hated that Mai would watch in contentment. Not complaining that she was bored or hungry, just watching, smiling slightly, or even giggling occasionally, when he made a comment that was worth the effort. Azula wasn't even sure what they were talking about. Light fixtures? She could only wonder how someone could have such an interesting conversation about such a boring subject, especially Mai, who was completely impassionate about everything, as opposed to Zuko, who was the same way to feelings as a prostitute was to rich, handsome men.

On that note, Azula couldn't help but compare the two lovers as artwork of the sorts. People were- in a way- just like pieces of canvas being confronted by artists, who held their emotions like paint in a palette.

Mai was a large canvas, begging to be painted on, but her artist was an uncertain adult, who stood in front of the canvas with his hand on his chin and a frown on his face, long after the paint in his palette had dried up. When he finally did think of something to paint, grooming got in the way. Having been taught to make sure the subject was worth the energy instead of just randomly painting emotion onto a dilemma or silly joke. Because of this, the canvas remains blank and plain. Boring.

Zuko, like Mai, was a large canvas, but unlike Mai, Zuko's artist was an erratic 3 year old that had been given emotions in the form of paint and told that the idea of the game was to use the paint to destroy the canvas in the most violent way possible. It was just as amusing to envision the wild 3 year as it was to see it in person. A little angry red streak here, maybe some blue to show some sulking, and a mass amount of circles and squares in the center, to show that the 3 year just as confused as Zuko was when it came to picking a single emotion or paint color at a time, and much less knowing what to do with it when he finally did come to a decision.

Their relationship itself was a big canvas, and just as before, the 3 year old was going nuts with all kinds of designs, paints, and emotions, while the adult stood back and watched in honest amusement. Every once in a while, the adult would step forward and paint of small bit of emotion onto the canvas, which would either excite, upset, or leave the 3 year old to sit dumbstruck upon the floor, wondering what he had done that had motivated the adult to do such a thing in the first place.

Everything was like that, Azula supposed, just big pieces of canvas, some with great artists, who knew when and where to paint emotion on their canvas, others with evil little bastards as their artists, who found it funny that they were able to emotionally sabotage somebody else at will. She still didn't understand though. An erratic 3 year old and an uncertain adult were not the first likely mix that would go together in her head, but they somehow made it work. They were happy, they loved each other.

She hated it. But she would never act on that hate; it would ruin her hold over both Zuko and Mai.

So she just watches them with an irritated scowl on her face.

**Hey guys! I really hoped you liked this. I'm not really sure where the idea came from, but it came to me and I wrote it down. Some feedback would be nice, so please review!  
-PoisonBones**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bryke does. **


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